Virtual reality headsets are popular among video gamers as they provide a realistic experience while playing, but one terminally ill grandmother with cancer has found out that the headset can be used to walk outside without actually stepping foot out of her house.

Using an Oculus Rift VR headset, Roberta Firstenberg is able to catch butterflies in the beautiful sunshine outside a virtual Italian villa from her armchair in Seattle.

The idea to use virtual reality to give Roberta an outdoor experiernce without leaving her home came from her granddaughter, Priscilla Firstenberg, who is an artist that designs video games.Priscilla emailed Oculus about her idea and they sent her a headset, for free, for Roberta to use.

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Roberta Firstenberg, who is suffering from terminal cancer, uses an Oculus Rift VR headset to experience a virtual world where she can walk outside a Tuscan villa and catch butterflies

The virtual reality headset gives Roberta Firstenberg the ability to feel as if she is outside, without actually leaving her home

'Thank you very much for the heartfelt email. We’re all really sorry to hear about your grandmother and can sympathize/empathize with your situation," Kevin Crawford, Oculus’s customer service lead, replied back to Priscilla the next day. 'The email has made its rounds within the Support group and it was a unanimous decision that we needed to help you out....Keeping with the spirit of these specific Rifts, it only makes sense that we loan a working developer Rift to another game dev.'

When the headset arrived, doctors had given Roberta, at most, two months to live.

Roberta Firstenberg's doctors say she has two months to live but her life is being improved using a virtual reality headset

'I pretty much cried at my desk reading it,' Priscilla said in reference to the response from Crawford.

Before long, Roberta was walking through a virtual Tuscan villa, trying to catch butterflies and admiring the sunshine.

'Her favorite part was just being able to walk up and down the stairs again of the villa in the Tuscany demo,' said Priscilla. 'I guess we take a lot of things for granted.'

The idea to use the virtual reality headset as therapy came after Roberta told her granddaughter about a dream she had.

In it, Priscilla come back from the future with Priscilla's sister, and they would take her to the future using a time traveling chair to cure her cancer.

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The next day, Priscilla was at work discussing new consoles with her co-workers, including the Rift.

'As I brought up more points about the Rift, it suddenly clicked – there might as well have been a literal light bulb above my head – traveling, going outside, just sitting in a chair, etc. That night I went out on a limb and emailed the support center for the Oculus Rift.'